Wonder

When everything is in flux, we need people who can move across worlds. In times of upheaval, grief, anxiety and rising discomfort, polymaths—those who wear many hats, blend skills, and cross disciplines—are essential.They thrive in the spaces between, finding connections others might miss.When things shift beneath us, it’s these transitional... See more

Curiosity has become inconvenient. Too slow. Too unstable. Too unmonetizable.

The algorithm doesn’t reward wandering.

So we’ve replaced curiosity with confidence.

Everyone knows. Everyone’s an expert. Everyone’s built a “framework” or “toolkit” for something they haven’t lived.

We used to sit with the elders. Now we watch explainers.

We used to travel... See more

Ritual prevents the ordinary from dissolving into invisibility. If you light a candle at dinner, the meal becomes an event. If you walk at the same time each day, it becomes more than exercise. Anthropologists will tell you that rituals function as technologies of attention: certain ordinary acts aren’t trivial, they’re the architecture of meaning.... See more

“But the principle of constantly expanding your experience, both personally and vicariously, does matter tremendously in any idea-producing job. Make no mistake about it.”

― James Webb Young, A technique for producing ideas: A simple five step formula for producing ideas

“I am convinced, however that you gather vicarious experience best, not when you are honing up on it for an immediate purpose, but when you are pursuing it as an end in itself.”

― James Webb Young, A technique for producing ideas: A simple five step formula for producing ideas

The AI age rewards synthesists—people who connect unlikely domains, who refuse to be reduced to a function.

Leonardo didn't know he was being a Renaissance man. He was just following his curiosity, letting each interest inform the others, refusing to separate art from science because he understood they were the same investigation.

Five hundred years... See more